Breaking down the Knicks-Raptors trade | The Lowe Post

Breaking down the Knicks-Raptors trade | The Lowe Post

Welcome to the low poost podcast where it’s 2024 holy smokes we had a holiday weekend trade that never happens the New York Knicks and the Toronto Raptors uh currently at odds in a lawsuit that’s a thing uh decided to throw that aside and make a trade and end our long era of

Endless Toronto Raptors rumors that lead nowhere except to an inexplicable yaka purle trade the Knicks swinging big acquire o and anobi in exchange for RJ Barrett who I think now gets known as Canadian RJ Barrett Emanuel quickley and a Detroit Pistons second round pick that uh I don’t know

If you guys have heard but the Pistons are very bad will probably be the 31st or 32nd pick in the draft almost a first round pick the Raptors uh this is seemingly endless months and months and years of you know is this team going anywhere should we continue to invest in

This team maybe maybe not and just had come to the conclusion I wrote about this I I think even a month ago I saw on this spt or maybe three weeks ago I said on the podcast I would bet heavily on them making at least one trade I I

Thought they had reached the Moment of clarity of this seem just isn’t very good these three guys Barnes seaka man anobi just don’t fit very well there could very well be a seaka trade coming down the road in fact I would bet on there being a seak trade coming down the

Road you never know with the Raptors but if I had to bet I would bet and you know Kevin Pelton is here wearing his UW uh University of Washington gear big college football apparently there couple big college football games today are you are you ready Kevin I don’t know if I’m

Really ready but uh By the time people listen to this they’ll know whether I’ve had a good New Year’s Day or not I guess um you know we’re a year removed from the endless an anobi rumors and I said at the time and others have since reported reported before and after that

Including Bruce Arthur I think most recently at the Toronto Star that the Raptors had a market of three first round picks potentially for an anobi at last year’s trade deadline and in comparison to that this looks disappointing however I said then and I will say now people hear three first

Round picks and they imagine whoa three unprotected first round picks like you know uh the Jazz got here and and from you know with the Jazz the Thunder got from the the Clippers and I wrote at the time like if you look at um you know

Indiana was one of the teams that’s been sniffing around anobi for a while they had like a Boston first round pick and a Cleveland first round pick the Grizzlies are on Pace to be a good team for like the foreseeable future um all their picks if if in when they had weighed in

Would have been slated to be you know end of the first round picks most likely like there are first round picks and there are first round picks and not all first- round picks are created equal and the Raptors I think very clearly have showing you here we wanted players we

Didn’t want picks we wanted players we wanted young good cost controlled players your crap picks are of no interest to us um and in also what happened is ogan and Obi a year ago was a year and a half left on his contract now has half a year left on his contract

With with a champion ship contender in Philadelphia looming in the off seon as the max contract Boogeyman threat that is coloring all of these trade talks right now so all of that Dynamic has changed but I will start let’s start in Toronto Mr Pelton did they get enough

And could they have done better had they acted earlier I mean I think they definitely could have gotten more had they acted earlier for the reasons that you just laid out I mean the other element is OG anobi is not playing quite as well now as he did last season which is an

Interesting piece of this to unpack particularly at the defensive end of the Court where you know I think there was a case for him to potentially be on the defensive player of the year ballot last year he he was that that good and that impactful as the the league leader in

Steals I I mean it’s tough to know exactly what the market was for anobi obviously they have the most information about it I mean the most interesting element of this is they made the deal now on December 30th instead of waiting until the trade deadline to see what

Else might materialize so they had to have concluded that Not only was this the best offer available now it was better than any potential offer they could have gotten between now and then and I think one interesting question in terms of the timing is would this next

Offer still have been there for them is a back stop on the trade deadline like if that’s the case then their urgency to move now was only if they think that that it helps them this season because of the fact that manual quickly is a really good fit for them and brings a

Dimension in terms of outside shooting uh from the guard position that they just don’t have and if that was their motivation for making the trade now then I think that would be a mistake because you know being the ninth seed in the play in or even if you get up to eighth

Like really for who for what like I I know now it’s trendy to bash the not everyone has to blow everything up but this is a team that we’ve already see like the upside is very very low for them if they’re really doing that for this season that’s a mistake well the I

Guess the acception would be how worried are you about giving the Spurs like the seventh or eighth pick in the draft via the the purle trade that I mentioned before it’s top six protected for the next three seasons I think maybe two um how were because they’re not far

For look the bottom four in the NBA is going to be an all-time awful bottom four no one is touching Washington Charlotte Detroit San Antonio and they they may have companied down there from some other teams but Toronto’s not far from that I I guess that would be

Seventh right now yeah yeah and and and um seventh lowest is what you mean like and this pick is top top six protected to your point I think the trade is about Emanuel quickly I think they identified this player possibly as early as last season as someone they wanted if and

When they decided we just can take OG and Obi into free agency with the Sixers looming out there and he’s tailor made for the Sixers everything they need um from sort of a third fourth player uh we just we can’t do it and if you look at

The other teams that like it look an anobi could fit anywhere I mean that’s part of why he had such a wide Market at the time and probably still would have like just teams that I’ve mentioned before that makes structural sense not reporting or anything we all know

Philadelphia is trying to upgrade or has the assets now post Harden to upgrade they don’t have the player that they would I think view as the that Toronto would want Oklahoma City who I’m starting to wonder like are they just good enough to win the championship without making any kind of trade like

Have we just all missed the plot I’m like maybe they’re just that good already but they don’t have a young player I don’t think that they would give up for ogan and Obi like a young Emanuel cook is not a blue chip player but he’s a very he’s a good I voted him

Six men last year um Sacramento is a team that I’m fascinated with for the next two months because they’re good and actually they’re starting they blew out the Grizzlies last night they’re starting to be just good good like they were good record much better than their point differential kind of wobbly they

Did change their starting five last night they benched Kevin herder who’s been in like a season long slump that’s something to monitor I don’t know what they’re going to do but I I thought there was some natural Synergy between them and Toronto but again who’s the

Young player that Toronto can look at on that roster and say that’s who we’re targeting obviously it’d be Keegan Murray and they’re not going to trade Keegan Murray fro and and Obi uh by the way the the Keegan Murray is one of my favorite little things in the Sacramento

Just they just nail all all the little details the beam and that little fan call and response and then Golden State you know I’ve heard Bill Simmons talk a lot about Golden State Toronto deals mostly focusing on SE yakum they talked about Anon Obi last year not sure how

Extensively because uh uh people didn’t quite know what Toronto was going to do or feel that Toronto was really Gonna Act and you look at like kaminga would be the guy there kinga’s starting to play kind of like I have been hoping he would play since I was on the Jonathan

Kaminga bandwagon the first time I saw him play and I think the Warriors probably looked at an and Obi as like to your point he’s plateaued this year and he’s plateaued in exactly the way he’s always played where yeah man you may want more on ball chances and scoring

Chances and by the way you ain’t going to a place where you’re necessarily going to get him in New York but he’s just so mechanical with the ball and mechanical is not how the Warriors play and so you start to just kind of run out of places where the Raptors can get a

Player as good as quickly and you know I I like to quickly fit with Scotty Barnes you you seem too as well um uh it why don’t you elaborate on on why but I will before we go there I will say I agree with you that they could have done

Better at last year’s deadline I don’t know how much better I don’t really even think like meaningfully better to me the cost of not acting early is less whatever the Delta is between this trade and that theoretical trade and more the Perle trade I think the purle trade is a

Mistake I don’t even think he’s been very good this year I think precious should Shu has been as good as him for like lots of stretches of this season if not not all of it but some of it um and that pick is just out the door and it’s

Like why and then van vet I I don’t get as up in arms about van vet walking for nothing as other people do but to me it’s more about the peral cost but I don’t know take it where you want to go yeah it’s the it’s it’s the sum of the

Parts like any one individual the the pural trade I agree was probably the most costly mistake that they made be especially if it is influencing this they’re thinking this season in terms of what you mentioned at the start of all this in terms of potentially giving San

Antonio the seventh or eighth picks and you know it’s easy for me to say this from the outside I’m not the one who actually has to face the Toronto media and the Raptors fans they should obviously not be worrying about that the the best thing that they can do is give

Them a lower pick in future years if they can then build something stronger and getting a top six pick this season Maybe not immediately but it’s some some point is going to be part of building that something stronger I I think one thing the kind of big picture prioritizing players over picks yes

Quickly is cost controlled to a degree because he’s going to be restricted free agent this summer and I think his contract will probably be pretty favorable for Toronto although we’ll see you know just what his market ends up looking like based on how he plays this season but that favorable contract is

Probably still going to be what in the 15 to 20 million a year range I think probably more I agree it will be a good contract for Toronto they have in we know that restricted free agency is an enormous piece of Leverage I think it’ll be higher than that I mean that means

They’re paying you know him and Barrett combined like 45 million a season the value of draft picks isn’t necessarily the player just the player you get because everyone always does this you know I how what are the odds that a player is going to be better than

Emanuel quickley or even RJ Barrett not that high but the value of the draft pick is you get them on a rookie contract for four years where you’re paying them very little and you know Toronto has some caps SPAC scenarios depending on what they do with Pascal

Seaka that may not be the biggest deal but eventually there’s always an alternative cost to how you can use that salary and that’s why draft picks are are so valuable in in trade um you know as far as the the market for him I yeah I guess you’re you’re probably right

Guess that gets back to the question of what they should have been prioritizing in this deal whether it was picks or players I I do think you you you sort of uh mention it a little bit in in a tongue and cheek way I thought before

About um this sort of like well look what happens if if you everyone wants to blow it up blow it up blow this team up blow that team up well you might become the Pistons who are in year five of a rebuild but are playing as if they are

The worst rebuilding team in the history of the league in year one of rebuild you might be the Sacramento Kings who wander the desert of number seven and five and 8 picks for 15 years before reaching relevance ever again and I do think there is some of that at play I think a

Couple things happened number one teams have gotten a little choosier about what’s really a a an attractive first round pick like your top 15 protected pick from the Celtics doesn’t doesn’t move us and number two I do think there is is that sort of I think Detroit is

Being held out there as like oh boy that’s one cautionary tale and as an aside for no reason I I’ve had people tell me like with the second apron stuff really looming starting next season and and all that people are really watching the Suns for you know like how does this

Does this three big star thing work in Phoenix capping yourself out in terms of your roster flexibility and all that and all the gymnastics Phoenix had to do with swap rights being split up here and there like Voldemort’s soul to try and get any tradable assets people are

Watching that too but I do think I do think that played into and you look at the Raptors like the one year they really tanked was the Tampa year during the pandemic when I think they just decided man if there’s ever a year to do this like we don’t even have a home

Arena where we’re playing in Tampa Bay like let’s just cut the cord and they got Scotty Barnes other than that they don’t really they’re one of many organizations that just doesn’t have an appetite for this kind of thing much like Indiana and when I was trying to

Think of sort of comparative deals for this and they’re not this is a really interesting trade by the way there are not a lot of Trades like this um where you sell a player and you get like you’re quote unquote acting as a seller and you get talented players back like

That that’s pretty rare I did think of like Paul George for Victor Oladipo as as the kind of trade and sabonis too came in that trade is a kind of trade where Indiana clearly was like pick Schmicks like we don’t want Boston we don’t want all your picks like whatever

You got to offer us we want this player um I thought that was interesting if you have any additional thoughts on that and um RJ Barrett what is Mr pelton’s take on RJ Barrett who’s only 23 years old yeah it’s fascinating that we’ve gone this long without talking about the the

Highest drafted highest paid player that Toronto got in Return of other than in the context of that salary I I mean there’s still I think a path for him the you know the obvious comparison that I made in my trade grades is to his fellow Canadian Andrew Wiggins who you know was

Considered a stronger draft prospect Wiggins was the reason that there part of the reason there was this epic Tank season in 20134 leading into that draft you know Barrett wasn’t quite considered at that that level as a prospect but you know the the issue is he’s kind of

Shifted Less on ball more off ball with the arrival of Jaylen Brunson and with Julius Randall still sappy up a huge share of possessions his usage rate is still much higher than OG anobi and that’s an interesting piece of this you mentioned there might not be uh a bigger

On ball role for anobi and New York someone does kind of have to fill that shot creation that anobi and Emanuel quickly were doing it’ll be interesting to see that Barrett Barrett Barrett in quickly yeah yeah don’t take jenzo had a big game the other night with with all

Those guys out of the lineup after the trade uh I think he probably factors into it to some extent since he’s a much higher usage player than Quinton Grimes was in that fif spot in the starting five you know every I I a window into my sad brain you

Know I mentioned a few several episodes that every few days I think about Gordon hayward’s leg injury in his opening game with the Celtics and the Ripple effects of that on a much lower scale Maybe every nine days I remember that the Bucks traded Dante dvan chenzo for Ser

Ibaka and like people liked the trade and I was like you’re all crazy like you don’t trade a wing for an almost out of the league big guy but that’s that’s neither here nor there continue on Mr Barrett please yeah so he’s shifted a little bit more off ball and it hasn’t

Improved his efficiency at all because of the fact that he’s just not a good off ball score because the shooting isn’t there so look that is the easiest element of your game to improve over time it’s weggins was a better off ball scorer in Minnesota than Barrett was in

New York but that’s the jump that he made when he got to Golden State and really embraced that smaller role and became an Allstar and a really important piece of their championship team until this year when I don’t know what’s happened but he he is no longer any of

Those things so you know Harrison Barnes is another example of a guy who you know was an inefficient on ball scorer early in his career evolved into this quality role player not not an All-Star in his you’re not reassuring Raptor’s fth like this is like an all frustrating guys

Team that you’re mentioning like in all they look like they should be way better than they actually are guy I call them the DeAndre Hunter Allstars he may be ascending to the to the throne of that team it is reassuring that you mentioned quickly was so important to them in this

Deal because I I got to admit that I’m like 5% more skeptical of the Raptors for Toronto native RJ Barrett than I would be about any other team from that standpoint um you you went specific Toronto native RJ Barrett um I I should go there and just Canadian RJ Barrett is

Not specific enough as we change as we change his title um here are RJ Barrett’s shooting percentages from three over five years of his career 32% 40% 34% 31% 33% so that 40% looks like an outlier so far he has never shot 50% on twos just twos like aside from like

Leave the threes out he’s never made half his twos that’s just flat not good enough it will make him initially a blah fit with Scotty Barnes and obviously this team is now about Scotty Barnes as that has been the case all season it’s one of the reasons the seaka rumors just

Will not die as his usage is down his points are down he’s trying to pick his SP I mean he has big games he still has he’s still really good like at 30 something in the uh Detroit streak breaker the other night um I’m going to

I am going to tentatively I’m I’m not gonna plant a flag but I’ve always said if if there’s like a a Continuum of RJ Barrett optimism pessimism and like over here on the pessimistic side is like he just stinks he’s a toxic asset and that is a word that got thrown

Around yesterday in my conversations with front office people and coaches toxic asset like you’re swallowing his cons cont to on the other end oh future Allstar RJ Barrett I’m like in the 68th percentile toward positive maybe the 73rd percentile toward positive I think RJ Barrett has a chance to be a good NBA

Player and in fact has been for long stretches of his career 10 games here 15 games here a good NBA player I like that he’s a jack of all trades master of none I think that’s an okay kind of player to be and a useful kind of player to be as

Long as some of the trades get a little bit like if you think he’s a C+ B minus Defender he should be a B+ a minus Defender he has the body type and the toughness and the instincts to do it if he’s a d shooter like can we make him a

C+ B minus shooter like I think there’s a good player in here he can do stuff at the ball he can attack Closeouts he can screen and dive and make plays in open space he had a little Twan game thing with Brunson and I also like that I

Thought look these little playoff things you never know what to make of small sample sizes in the playoffs his first whatever playoff games the Hawk series from 20121 and then the first part of the Cleveland Series last year were so Dreadful like Julius Randall in the playoffs level Dreadful that it left you

Wondering like is this this guy just not habit like is there something about this stage that he he’s just stood not built for it and he turned the corner and finished the playoffs pretty strong for the Knicks quickly has not turned the corner in the playoffs and you know I

Don’t I don’t suspect he’ll get a chance to disprove that Trend uh to Buck that Trend this year with the Raptors but I don’t know what really to read into that because that’s a tiny sample he got hurt during last year’s playoffs um so he doesn’t and the whole Knicks team just

Crap the bed against the Hawks uh in 2021 but I I do I think I think Barrett is I guess what I would say is he’s making let’s see 25 27 29 the next three seasons I’m rounding down it’s really 26 28 30 but I don’t want to say 30 30 s 30

Just sounds like too much I’m gonna say I think he can play to to the point that that is a neutral contract that that’s an okay contract I think that’s reasonable yeah I I it’s not an enormous contract with a cap going up I I think

Toxic would be way too strong if that’s the zero grow percentile I’m maybe in the the 30th percentile on RJ Barrett on on your scale I think the playoff element with quickly is a really interesting one because one of the things that surprised me you know I think sometimes people think when they

See my trade grades that I’m trying to be contrarian with what I write and it’s like I’m writing without knowing what everyone else is going to say about this I don’t know what the consensus is going to be and one of you’re writing instantaneously you’re writing while everyone is tweeting their reaction to

This trade you are you see the trade you’re you go like that’s that’s that’s what’s going on yep exactly so one of the things that surprised me is to read a lot of other people that I respect John Hollinger Zack cram say that they thought you know to varying degree is

That the Raptors won this deal because of the fact that quickly is a better player than OG anobi at this point and the Raptors got the pick and you know RJ Barrett on top of that and I think the playoff element factors into that to a degree so you know the best projection

System we have for players out there is the tar Darko projection system by Costa medvedovsky and just recently Quickly’s rating surpassed anobi for the first time he’s been better across the board in advance metrics this year I think the playoff element is a little bit of a

Concern for me and then the other interesting one is to what degree has quickly thrived because of the fact that that he’s been largely playing against second unit guys with a Nick’s second unit that has been for the most part much better than their starting lineup relative to the opponents they’re

Playing so you know if you look at the Knicks most teams they’re starting their five best players the Knicks have not started their best five best players over a period of time and they have under Tom thibo almost never mixed their starters and their bench like there’s

This extreme split and that’s one of the interesting things here because you know quick was propping up those bench units if you don’t have his production now I think that it’s really incumbent on Tom Tibido to start staggering Julius Randall and Jaylen brunson’s minutes in

A way that he has not wanted to do at any point in the past yeah sometimes sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn’t it goes back and forth with I call I in my notes it’s the Jay’s stagger Julius and jayen like can we just keep one of them on the floor the

Whole time like that seems to be a helpful thing 90% of their minutes this season have been together so very little staggering so far this year and look it’s worked the Knicks are always really good with emanel quickly on the court that’s part of the reason that his

Advanced metrics sing the way they do I and you know you know who’s you know who’s off the court for a lot of those minutes the other guy Toronto God the well that yeah that is the funny thing like I I think the best thing about when

You say when you say the Knicks haven’t started their five best players for a while and I was like I wonder who that’s an indictment of I yes is great of a fit as Emanuel quickly is with Scotty Barnes also RJ Barrett is not the player that you would ideally

Want to put next to to Scotty Barnes with his need for the ball and his his three-point shooting so all that is going to make it really he’s a really fascinating test case to see how well his Advanced metrics are going to translate in Toronto and I’m you know

I’m probably in the 70th percentile of Emanuel quickley Believers in the league but it turns out there are some Emanuel quickley True Believers out there who are much higher on him than I am as a as an Emanuel cookley six Man of the Year voter and I was frankly like surprised

He didn’t win last year like I I was kind of surprised Malcolm Brogden won and by the margin that he did Malcolm brog is fine he was number two on my ballot I’m in the 8 second percentile of Emanuel quickley optimism I’m not quite a a True Believer weeping New York fan

So sad to see him go um so the by the way bottom line for Toronto I think this is fine like I don’t think it’s great but I think it’s fine like I think it’s a nice little deal that helps them this year and going forward you jumped my

Next question which I was just going to flat out ask ask you and then answer myself who is the best player in the trade I still think it’s OG anobi especi like you look at the way his skill set scales to the playoffs New York hasn’t

Had a player like this you know they who’s the best Wing Defender that they’ve had in the Tho era Quinton Grimes RJ Barrett Dante D yeah there’s a bunch of like oh good guys like good guys but like OG at his best and I the

Steel Cline this year I don’t get it at all like if you look at his rate of steals to deflections which usually track each other pretty closely he’s converting a few less deflections into Steels this year but his deflections rate is way down as well so man producer

Dan points out in the uh the chat Reggie Bullock is the the next Wing defend Best Wing Defender which I I think is perhaps its own indictment of the well producer Dan producer Dan is a Nicks fan who remembers Alfred pton starting at point guard for

The New York nickers in the playoffs and probably as a result has very fond memories of whenever Emanuel cookley would step on the court for not being alred Payton U the answer is ogan and Obi and look I respect I like I don’t think it’s a landslide and like I will I

Can read and digest the argument for quickly being better than ogn and Obi you just said in some metrics he has passed ogan and Obi personally like I don’t really think it’s much of a debate right now I just think Oobi as his skill set is just so important for postseason basketball the

Ability to guard he guards every position I mean Toronto would have him guard centers sometimes as a primary assignment and hit 40% on spot up threes yes you would like him to do a little bit more in the half court and can he can he be can he be a little less

Mechanical with the ball even his bully ball game which people think is an asset and sometimes it is it’s like could you just like get somewhere sometimes just like speed it up a little bit I still think given that his we know his ceiling is in the defensive player of the year

Conversation like for a wing tweener forward whatever you want to classify him as that’s extremely rare like there are just not many wings who have gotten that high in that in that kind of race and he’s one of them so I still I still think it’s him before we leave Toronto

And go to the Knicks I do think it’s interesting to zoom out now and like this team won the championship five years ago it’s been a while um the SE yakum thing is hanging in there and hanging out there rather um it’s inter if you just if Barrett if

Barrett ends up in the very middle of like the Barrett Continuum is just like okay like not as good as I think he can become not toxic like what do the Raptors really have now like zoom out and like let’s assess like so they have Scotty Barnes and Emanuel quickley

That’s good like I like that Scotty Barnes is a stud might make the allstar theme this year Grady dick is barely played Malachi Flynn who they included in this trade as a throwin they picked one spot ahead of Desman Bane Christian Koko uh who’s another critical draft pick for them has been

Out with like respiratory issues the entire season they traded down from the 20th pick to the 33rd pick and drafted him in the Thad Young trade Thad young has not really done much for the Raptors that was like the emergency can we just get Nick nurse another guy he’s playing

Our seven guys way too many minutes trade and precious aoua who I think is like not a small deal in this trade more for the Knicks than the Raptors um that was the only thing of note from the Kyle Lowry trade like like what else now

Grady dick I’m not like it’s not a big deal that he’s barely played in the first couple months of his rookie season on a team that thought it was going to be decent like that’s not totally abnormal but if you zoom out it’s like man you know we’ll see what happens with

Trent and free agency and we’ll see if and when they trade seak or resign like that that salary slot will become something we talked about Barrett Barrett’s important you know they got they they got some distance to cover now as they as they pivot eras yeah it’s interesting that you

Mentioned Indiana as a comparison because one thing I’ve been observing lately is everyone thinks of this Pacers team is like this really young team on the rise and if you look at it Benedict wat Benedict Maan has been out of the starting lineup for a long period of

Time Willi toppen just moved to the bench like they’re not necessarily starting old guys around tyes halberton but they’re only like young player who is really shining as part of the Season that they’re having in that inseason tournament run is Tyrese Halton and like he’s so good it almost doesn’t matter

Because he’s just that special but I think that is maybe the risk you run when you focus too much of you know your your return in a trade on young Talent as opposed to draft pick is you know you maybe don’t have the the draft picks that grow into supporting

Pieces around that star speaking of the IST when do when do we reach the expiration date on the Lakers using the inseason tournament as an excuse for their midling season this is like it’s it’s like they had to travel to Indonesia and play for three weeks

Straight and then come back to L the well you know I mean the IST I mean look at the Pacers as they’ve been muddling along too you had to go to Las Vegas and play like an extra game like I I it reminds me of when LeBron hated the

Playin tournament it’s like the reverse of that like LeBron hated the play in tournament until he needed it LeBron loved the IST when he won it and now it’s like it’s the reason for the Lakers being the 23rd best offense in the NBA which by the way anyway I don’t want to

Talk about the Lakers um let’s talk about the Knicks uh we talked about Anon we agree he’s the best player in the trade uh Barrett we talked about quickly was not going to reach his ceiling whatever it is in New York um although he and Brunson always played well

Together I think the Knicks thought I don’t know if that translates to the playoffs when teams are going to slow the game down try to hunt our smaller guards on defense playing two of them together we don’t know how viable that is in the playoffs the interesting thing

About this is obviously anobi is a free agent he is represented by C AA one of his agents is Leon Rose’s son uh he used to be represented by clutch by the way people have forgotten about that in which case he would not probably be on the

Knicks but now he is found his way to the Lakers instead now he is um uh and they keep the Knicks all the first round picks they’ve been hoarding for this like theoretical star trade that has not happened almost happened with Donovan Mitchell Giannis and embiid have kind of

Come and gone as potential suitors at least as potential players they might chase at least for now um but they still have all of those things I think they will miss Quickly’s ball handling and just zip like he brings a little Randomness and zip to they’re like a bad

Argam they hit you and hit you and hit you quickle brings a little like you know just moves around and Bobs and weaves and shoots threes it’s unpredictable I do think his his play making this that will be the test in Toronto is like half court orchestration how much can he level up

Because I think he’s just okay there defensively he’s been pretty good um but anobi feels a need I think I think a smaller part of this trade for the Knicks is like he I I presume he will play the minutes Randall is out and give them a little more size than Josh Hart

Who’s been masquerading as their backup four I think that will help um and yeah I mean I and they have all of their all their picks which which raises the question of you know I mentioned the Suns and the three big salaries they’ve got 45 $50 million salaries the Knicks

Have you know randle’s got two years about 31 a pop after this Brunson has one year at 25 and they’ve got to be pre-planning for the giant Brunson rise that’s coming once he turns down his player option you know like randle’s we’ll see if randle’s on the team beyond the

Expiration of his contract but his number right now is like a a good number for him I’m curious what and anobi gets um his max starting salary is around 42 million I think that would be a disaster for the Knicks or for any team that signs up to that amount amount of money

Unless you just win the championship like you’re Philly you just like he’s the busing we’re going to pay him deal with it later I think there’s a pretty good chance that would not be a great contract if you get him let’s pencil him in at like 34 if you get him at 34

Randall at 34 for one more year can you squeeze in one more big but not huge salary like a 30 25 like Deon Murray maybe I think is a name that has already been rumored I’m not saying there’s been any talks I have no idea if there’s been

Any talks and stay under the second apron at least because they also have this like fornier expiring contract that it’s not expiring they have a team option on them for next season the Clock Was is kind of ticking on that I am curious if they have another move in the

Bag for this season and as far as auua I think he’s pretty good I think they have addressed their need for a center I did not want them to go head over heels and like splurge on some stop Gap Center and he’s restricted so they can decide is

He’s someone we want long term and if so we can let hartenstein walk like one of those guys will be on the knck next year and one of them won’t uh I think they checked a lot of boxes with this trade but I’m curious what you think about

Their team as constructed in if you think there’s another move coming here this season or should they just stamp Pat well the interesting element of that is as we’ve talked about with so many teams over the course of this year that if you want to aggregate salaries and

You’re anticipating being a second apron team that you have to do it before you know the the end of the season to be able to take advantage of that that or or skirt I guess that provision of the new CBA when it takes effect next season

I would maybe argue for making that move now and yeah being able to keep the fornier salary out of this trade like when I first saw this deal I sort of expected that it was going to be forier and more draft picks would have been the return rather than you know something

Built around Barrett and and quickly and and fewer draft picks so I I also one thing I think I think a lot of people are like putting that Detroit pick that the Knicks have in the same category as the Washington pick that they got in the same trade you’re talking about to be

Clear you’re talking about the first round pick not not the second that they traded to Toronto you’re talking about the first round pick the Nicks have from Detroit which came from like a flurry of Draft Day moves cap clearing moves it’s one to 18 protected this year Detroit

Will keep it one to 13 protected next year one to 11 protected the year after that one to seven protected in 2027 and then converts to one second round pick I’m interested to see what you think about that pick are you are you on the school of like they may just

Never get it no I’m on the school of if I were running another team that would be the single pick I would be trying to get more than any other pick in the league because I think it’s undervalued given yes there’s the possibility of Detroit pivoting into another rebuild

After this and staying bad for a period of time but I think it’s more likely like you’ve seen the talk about them going out and trying to get o OG anobi was I think one of the names that was mentioned until this trade happened a veteran forward and free agency to

Complement the team like I think it’s more likely that you know as we saw with Houston as a response to their last couple of Seasons they pivot hard the other direction of we need to try to make Improvement right now and get veteran players that are going to help

Support the development of our young players on the roster and you end up with the 11th pick in 200 you know the 12th pick in 2026 or the 11th pick in 2027 that’s a really interesting take because I’m not sure how much I get what you’re saying I guess to me like you

Mentioned Houston um and Oklahoma City owns their pick this season top four protected like that pick could be fifth the best this Detroit pick can ever be is 10th and so I I I didn’t think of it as that attractive but that’s interesting that you I I of the beholder

Like the Knicks will get this Dallas pick this year they have a Mavs pick that’s 1 to 10 protect is so barring cat catastrophe what am I saying a catastrophe a catastrophe in Dallas um they’ll get that pick the Knicks will that’s interest that’s an interesting

Take KP I didn’t think about that the was so the Washington one why does the same not apply to Washington which is one to 12 protected this year so scratch it off one to 10 protected next year I think he can probably scratch that one

Off one to eight in 2026 no hope that that’s like the 12th pick in 2026 that Ted leanis is like like yeah we got to get ready for our move to Virginia you know get the get the Virginians into Wizards basketball blah blah no yeah maybe I mean they that does descend a

Bit as well but you have less time and they are starting they are at Square run right now the start of a rebuild so I think there is the appetite for a couple more years of losing in Washington in a way that there probably is not in Detroit honestly their fans have been

Rooting for losing for better part but yes stage one is Loosely known as the Jordan pool not facing the basket decides to turn and shoot a three-pointer from 32 feet away stage of rebuilding also Jordan p is still under contract that entire period of time so

He’s been I mean I know he’s been kind of a punchline this year like the walking the dog thing that went wrong and the three against Boston that porzingis blocked which essentially matched my description of he just like turned and decided to shoot um it’s unbelievable how not good he has been

This year like remember there was this whole like he might average 30 a game and lead the league and scoring kind of talk just because the Wizards would be bad his scoring average is like way down like everything is just they are Kyle kma’s playing hard and sharing

The ball and generally playing good basketball kulab Bali we’ve talked about we like him they’re a rough it’s it’s a rough watch right now the whiz very much so D Wright com back appr propo of nothing tus Jones is on a heater right now and they acquired tus Jones like I

There’s this whole sort of revisionist like did they get fleeced in the porzingis deal like somehow Boston got the picks and porzingis in that trade which seems like implausible now um but porzingis had this player option nobody trusted his health and they also got tus

Jones and I think their Hope was like we can turn tyus Jones into a first round pick at some point there was just widespread skepticism about that like all the G all the front office people I talked to were like if tyus Jones were worth a first round pick they’d already

Have it I still don’t know that they’re going to get that but there are a lot of teams right now that are kind of knocking on the tus Jones door he’s playing really really well like totally under the radar having a great season yeah yeah I I think that’s a more

Of that trade being in so favorable for Boston at this point is more of an indictment of Memphis right now than it is of Washington I don’t know what the hell we were talking about the the Knicks the Knicks in the next move like do you like dejon Murray as a fit

For the Knicks I do think the hog I’ve been saying for months now since it was clear the Hawks were not going to live up to my uh cockeyed optimism about their season that something was going to have to give here and it’s just sort of

Like he’s like unless you really want to talk about trading the other guy like he’s the most natural fit his contract is a good contract like that’s a contract you can get like you’re tempted to say New York just traded its way out of a dual point guard situation why

Would their trade assets to trade their way into one but I know what his contract is I know what he’s good at defensively he has never lived up to the hype and frankly I think has gotten worse in Atlanta but he can be a plus defensive player um do you like do you

Like that idea for New York I don’t love it you ra some some good points I I don’t think the dual point guard aspect matters quite as much because defensively it’s not going to be hurt you in the playoffs with Murray’s size and his ability to defend multiple

Positions I I think you know it depends how much it costs you like if if Murray could be a stepping stone you know if he’s the guy you send back if you’re trading for Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland and it’s like hey look you’re getting you know a guy who’s been an

Allstar in this deal then I think that makes sense if that’s the last move I I don’t think so because I think Murray is still more valuable with the ball in his hands than he is as a shooting and I continue to hear that Cleveland which has done a decent job sort of

Staying afloat without Moy and Garland and Mitchell in some recent games just doesn’t doesn’t want to entertain the notion right now and feels no need to entertain the notion of trading Donovan Mitchell as I always say and as people have other people have said and reported

Like that changes in one phone call from Donovan Mitchell’s representation or agent or whatever but like as of now I think the Cavs are have done pretty well gutting it out more than pretty well like you said gutting it out you know man Craig Porter Jr

How the hell did nobody draft that dude he is so crafty he like other teams must be annoyed by how crafty he is yeah he never really popped for me in my draft projections so I I you know I was aware of him but didn’t know a lot about him

Before he started playing rotation minutes for the Cavs early in the season and yeah uh you know kind of an undiscussed discussed story this season has been Ricky Rubio you know potentially retiring not playing basketball at all in the way that that in combination with with the Cavaliers

Injuries has really thinned out their depth and Porter has done a lot to help stepping into that role there’s a good book first of all best wishes to Ricky every interaction I’ve had with him is he’s just a wonderful guy to talk to there’s a good book to be written about

Ricky Rubio’s career and all the franchise it franchises it touches and how he was sort of this I don’t was he the last like International YouTube not like wanyama you could go like watches games like Rubio was this sort of like only the junkies really talked about Rubio and

Like look at this pass and he scored all these points in some FEA game and then it’s just gotten a level more obscure because now that’s like Alexi povi playing his games in a high school jum gym in front of 40 people was like the equivalent of that modern in modern

Times but Rubio was I mean his passing absolutely lived up to the hype I don’t mean to talk about his career in the past TS I have no idea what’s going to happen but his passing was magic and those Minnesota teams had flickers of just such joyous um rockus basketball on the

Knicks I do think part of the reason for this trade is defensively they’re they’re quietly 19th right now in points allowed per possession and you know that has to be driving tibs bananas um they just like even last year they were more offense oriented team than defense they

Were not a good defensive team last year they have not been a good defensive team this year and I think they felt the need to address that I do think as unbelievable as Brunson has been and Randall has settled in after a bad first 10 games they just play

They’re and and and the Knicks to their credit have been mixing it up a little bit more this year like they’ve been running a lot of Randall pick and rolles where he can kick out to Brunson Brunson can attack Clos outs I just think they’re GNA Miss on the possessions

Where Josh Hart and Divan chenzo just don’t create fast breaks out of nothing which they’re incredible at both of them I think they’re just going to miss the zip that quickly brings and I’m interested to see how much they miss it and if they miss it more than they think

How they replace it because I I just think they need the extra gear and and I mean this in a good way like he’s kind of a good chaos engine for them and just he doesn’t play like any of their other guys that have the ball and I think

They’re going to miss that variety I think there’s a possibility the Knicks to end up worse the rest of this season as a result of this trade even though we agree that anobi is the best player in the deal just in terms of how much they were built around the successive quickly

In that second unit the last few years I I still think it’s a very good trade for New York because number one I think OG’s trade value is going to hold up in a way that quickle might not have if he were still playing the same role on whatever

His next contract was going to be and I think that would that in the playoff you know issues were probably factors in New York not wanting to extend him previous viously and wanting to move him before he hit restricted free agency but you know so again long term I

Think this is a great deal for the Knicks to be able to get OG and and in here without giving up a first round pick in the short term I’m less convinced because it does shift a lot of their value From the Bench to the starting

Five uh it will be it will be quite interesting to see that’s in that’s an interesting way to look I don’t know we’ll see we’ll see there’s a lot of time between now and the trade deadline it’s January 1st University of Washington game begins in about four or five hours right we got

Six hours give six hours are and are you you’re a g are you like that the team I just read a headline they’re a gast that they’re underdogs again they’re offended that they’re underdogs I mean they they are undefeated they did beat this more or

Less the same Texas team last year in a Bull game in the state of Texas so even though Texas has a geographic Advantage here it’s it’s not nearly as sizable as last year so there are reasons to be optimistic I I do think Texas should be favored based on the advanced stats but

Like Washington has been in the college football playoff once since it existed like they’ve been serious title contenders once since I was in college which is now a very long period of time uh but that time they played Alabama in the playoff when Alabama was at Peak bam

Although they and then this was the year that Tua came off the bench and led them to the victory in the championship game they were serious championship game contenders this time and look they could have lost by badle and I could look embarrassing this could look embarrassing to say in hindsight but

They’ got a legit chance to go to the college football championship game and I I don’t know when that’s going to happen again so it’s it’s a pretty exciting day well I want I always root for when I’m neutral in sporting events I root for my

Friends to be happy I think I I don’t even I must know some UT people and I’m just blanking chis oh yeah I don’t know him well we didn’t overlap like physically too much in the grant land days um so I will be rooting for you dub

Uh to to win this game so you have a happy a happy New Year and uh I’m sure we’ll have some more things to analyze in the next couple months in the NBA Kevin Pelton go enjoy the game I I wish you luck I appreciate the support thanks as always for having Me

In this episode of The Lowe Post, Zach Lowe and Kevin Pelton break down the Toronto Raptors-New York Knicks trade centered on OG Anunoby and Immanuel Quickley, discuss what comes next for both teams and bounce around the NBA trade landscape.

0:00 Welcome to The Lowe Post podcast!
0:30 Knicks deal Barrett & Quickley for Anunoby
3:47 Did the Raptors get enough in return for Anunoby?
15:17 RJ Barrett & Immanuel Quickley’s fit in Toronto
26:26 The best player in the trade?
32:24 What’s next for the Knicks?

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